Cyber-espionage group uses Chrome extension to infect victims

In what appears to be a first on the cyber-espionage scene, a nation-state-backed hacking group has used a Google Chrome extension to infect victims and steal passwords and cookies from their browsers.

This is the first time an APT (Advanced Persistent Threat –an industry term for nation-state hacking groups) has been seen (ab)using a Chrome extension, albeit it’s not the first time one has used a browser extension, as the Russian-linked Turla APT previously used a Firefox add-on in 2015 [1, 2].